HIGHLIGHTS

With the Nintendo Switch release date, games, and additional features to be announced on January 12, the Kyoto-based company may take an approach not too dissimilar to Sony and Microsoft.

According to noted Japanese technology writer Zenji Nishikawa (and translated by The Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki), the Nintendo Switch could “keep evolving with advance of Tegra itself”.

What this means, is we could see an iteration of the Nintendo Switch just like the PS4 has the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One with Project Scorpio. Furthermore, Nishikawa states that the Nintendo Switch is using Nvidia’s Pascal architecture, not Volta as some have assumed or even Maxwell architecture as per a leak of its developer kit.

Nishikawa has a solid track record, being one of the first to say that Sony would launch a beefier variant of the PS4 a few years ago. Though like most things that fall into the realm of speculation, we’d take this with a grain of salt.

However, if Nintendo was planning a beefier variant for the Nintendo Switch, we’d probably hear about it a year or two after the Switch is on the shelves. Reason being, the Nintendo 3DS was followed up by an XL variant a year after release with a larger screen. This was followed by the New Nintendo 3DS in 2014 with a more powerful CPU, a second analogue stick, and an improved camera along with additional buttons. Though the firm is no stranger to iterative variants of its portable consoles, doing so for one that doubles up as a home console would be a first.

This report comes days after Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima said that the Nintendo Switch is a part of a bigger ecosystem.

“It may be appropriate to call them accessories. Or it might be better to call them add-on hardware. It’s probably more correct to call them accessories. You can assume that there will be a wider array.”

The new device features a tablet-like display unit that can dock at home and connect with a TV, or be taken out and about with two detachable controllers. Nintendo is betting the hybrid approach will help the Switch become a hit like the Wii, its most-successful console ever thanks to its motion-tracking controllers.

As for Switch’s software, he said Nintendo made a deliberate decision not to disclose specific titles: “One thing we still can’t show is the software lineup. We want people to touch the device in January and experience the software for themselves.”

Several reports pegged the price of the Switch to be on the higher side compared to the Wii.

“A long-in-the-works revamp to the company’s consoles — the NX, with reveal coming next week — is liable to come at a price that will result in a “major” disappointment for volume sales, the firm Macquarie says,” according to a post on investor website Seeking Alpha. “Speculation is putting the price of the new console between $300 and $350, in line with competing consoles, vs. the Wii’s former discount to rival boxes from Sony and Microsoft.”